v3.6.21.2 Beta Update (2004.09.27)

Fixes

The first fix in the list for v3.6.21.1 was actually a regression for some people not running Windows XP.

When a player tries to Teleport to a spot that is partially blocked, the cursor is nudged to the nearest available spot and a spangle flashes in the new spot. But in a game with v3.6.21.1 as the logic version (i.e., no emulation) this would only look correct on the local end, while a game was being played. To remote players in a network game, and during playback, the cursor nudge and spangle would not show up.

The message "Game will take advantage of the latest n.n.n.n features and bug fixes" will now display the game logic version rather than the exe version.

For readability, the Extract Log feature now uses "•••" to denote game events rather than "****" as before.

Speed / update rate

A check was inadvertently disabled, the purpose of which was to prevent the clock from ticking more than 1/4 second during a chunk of "screen lag". It is now re-enabled.

During an instant replay, a fast-forward that was fast enough to drop frames could overshoot the end of the turn, eating into the turn time of the next Worm.

The prior version restricted the rendering rate from dropping below 10fps. This was too arbitrary. The frame drop threshold is now calculated as a point of diminishing returns, where further frame dropping would not boost the speed by more than 10%. When fast-forwarding, this is often well above 10fps, especially on faster computers (this should also make screen lag more tolerable). Additionally, slow computers may sometimes need to drop below 10fps (for example, when a lot of fire is being thrown around).

In-game palette fading is smoother now. This is partly due to streamlining the way fading is done (previously, each fade increment was done separately for objects, water and terrain), and partly due to making external applications unaware of the game's palette adjustments. (The latter is a workaround for that fact that, regarding palettes, DirectDraw does not give exclusive treatment to full-screen apps.)

Volume adjustments

When the volume was adjusted in the front end, and a game was started within the same session, the adjustment would be forgotten.

Volume adjustments in the front end are now instantly applied to the ambient "menu loop".

The volume setting was not being applied to the "loading tick" sound effect (made each time the pie chart fills by an extra 4%)